The Iran-Israel attacks and the prospects of a wider Middle East war have dominated the news. Meanwhile, the bloodbath in Gaza continues. Genocide is the crime of crimes. We are witnessing it in real time in Gaza. The UN says, “The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history. Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.” Israeli Prime Minster Netanyahu’s promised “mighty vengeance” quickly became genocide. As Chris Hedges points out racism enables genocide. He says, “Arabs, like all those with darker skin, are worth less in this moral calculus. This explains the outrage over the murder of seven employees from the World Central Kitchen and the silence over the killing of over 175 UN” Palestinian aid workers. Those who remain silent in the face of genocide are complicit.

[Chris Hedges] What the Genocide Says About Us

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Why does the United States, the richest country on earth, have more poverty than any other advanced democracy? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages? What perpetuates poverty and what can be done to end it? “Poverty persists,” Matthew Desmond says, “because the rest of us benefit from it.” Recorded at Town Hall.

[Matthew Desmond] Ending Poverty in America

It's axiomatic that anything dealing with Palestine is deemed controversial. And if it is Palestinian American women speaking out even more so. Look at the vitriol and death threats directed at Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. She is Palestinian American and is speaking out as is Maryam Alwan, a Palestinian American student at Columbia. She is a Students for Justice in Palestine organizer in alliance with Jewish Voice for Peace. There is pushback. Asna Tabassum, an American Muslim, was chosen to give the commencement speech at USC until she was canceled after being targeted by pro-Israel groups. The sheer scale of death and destruction in Gaza and the ongoing expansion of illegal colonies and violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has shifted the narrative. In communities and campuses across the U.S., Palestinian American women are breaking down Orientalist cliches about being meek and submissive and are actively taking the lead. Recorded at Colorado State University.

[Linda Sarsour] A Palestinian American Speaks

Power. What is it? Political theorist Robert Dahl gave one example. He said, “A has power over B to the extent that he can get B to do something that he would not otherwise do.” Why is it that often that those who are on top are the wrong people? The high rollers and the nabobs lust for power behind a smokescreen of homilies about doing good. Today, more and more power is concentrated in the hands of the few, thus weakening democracy. Who wields it? How is it allocated? What are effective ways to ensure power is not abused and serves the societal greater good? How can we organize and protect ourselves from those seeking personal power and profit? How can we get the right people on top?

[Brian Klaas] The Wrong People at the Top

Empires come and go. They’re sometimes long, sometimes short. But ultimately they fall. Hubris, incredible arrogance, is often the element that brings the mighty down. The U.S. is not immune from decline. With its ruinous wars, bloated Pentagon budget, military bases all over the earth, grotesque levels of inequality and an economy that spews red ink we are witnessing its diminishing power. Recall the words of President Eisenhower in his 1961 Farewell Address. He warned of the dangers posed by “the military-industrial-complex” and its “potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” Recorded at the University of California.

[Chris Hedges] What the Genocide Says About Us

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